You see, blogging is the vehicle by which I can convey ideas I believe can change lives. But my passion is for the ideas more than the particular vehicle used to convey them.

Well, that was my initial thought anyway.

Then a wonderful fellow-blogger commented on a recent post, asking me to talk about my writing — how I write, how I come up with ideas and form the words and sentences around those ideas I share with you.

You can see what she had to say here. Scroll down to the bottom of the comments. Her name is Galen Pearl (and check out her blog while you’re at it!).

At first, I balked at the idea. Me? Write about writing? About MY writing? But as I thought about it, I came to the conclusion that words themselves can be made to be extremely powerful and beautiful.

Words are tools that convey ideas. But not only that. They are also art, used to paint a verbal picture, creating hue and texture, capturing the beauty of a context, instructing, motivating and inspiring.

The more effective the art and tool, the more effectively I can communicate my ideas to the hearts and lives of those I hope to touch.

Truth is, I came to realize that writing about writing can also have value. So I changed my mind. The following is the product of that change.

When I write, I follow what can be loosely termed a 4-step process. Here it is:

Step One: Ideas

Capturing Ideas

Ideas come and go so quickly. I can come up with a wonderful idea, blink once or twice and then struggle for the next hour trying to remember what the darn idea was!

Have you ever opened the fridge and then just stood there trying to remember why you opened it? That’s how ideas are to me. They flutter and fly away just about as soon as they land. So I try to throw a net over them as soon as they pop into my mind.

To do this, I keep a small notepad in my car to grab my best ideas before they fade into oblivion while I’m listening to a book-on-tape or a talk program or just thinking.

I keep a larger notebook by my computer. Another one by my bed (never know when the idea of the century is going to jump out at me — I’m still waiting! :)). I also use 3×5 cards as book marks so I can record ideas inspired by the book I’m reading at the time.

I even keep a blank card in my shirt pocket sometimes so I can write down the ideas that come while I’m out running errands. A little obsessive? Perhaps. But it works for me.

In truth, this step is critical to my writing because no matter how wonderful a great idea is, it’s not worth a nickel if I don’t remember it.

Developing Ideas

I regularly review the ideas I’ve written in my notebooks and cards to determine if they merit promotion to a Word Document. If there’s something about an idea I particularly like, I type it onto a document and save it to a file labeled for that purpose.

This way, I always have something like 40 – 60 different possible posts dangling in front of me whenever I open that file (which is everyday). It’s easily accessible and I can conveniently scan some of the ones I liked best in one spot as I consider the next post I’ll start working on.

Step Two: Writing

At any given time, I’m working on several articles simultaneously — usually 3 to 5. I continue doing this, shifting back and forth until one seems to pop out or take on a life of its own or “speak” to me. Then I hone in on that one, not always completely ignoring the others, however.

As such, I always have several articles in various stages of completion. If things aren’t clicking, I put it aside for a day or two and work on other ideas still germinating and on the page. Then I can start fresh again a day or so later.

Walking through an Idea

I do my best thinking on my feet, walking around, usually early in the morning when the air is cool and fresh and everything is subdued and quiet. I like to talk out loud as I work through a post idea almost like I’m giving a speech or holding a debate. It helps me think.

As the idea starts to formulate in my mind, I take notes, sketching out the basic structure of the article. This sometimes changes dramatically by the time it’s ready to publish, though. I sometimes start down one path only to realize it’s just not going to work as intended and rework it until it feels right. At other times a new idea is simply better and I trash the former.

Adding Meat to the Bones

Once a topic feels like it’s ready to be committed to paper, I type it up on a word document – always! Then I print it out and start writing in details. Sometimes I do this at the computer, but more often than not, it is on the stationary bike at the gym or sitting at my desk or while walking around a room.

Because I work on several articles simultaneously, I have time to let the ideas bump around in my head a bit, letting them marinate a while and mature.

Once the idea is put to paper, I start considering how to convey it most effectively or in a unique or interesting way. I think about the nature of the thing, its causes and effects. I consider whether it lends itself to a particular analogy or metaphor. And I start incorporating those stylistic ideas into the text.

Step Three: Editing

Fine Tuning

While it’s fair to call this a “step,” I’m actually editing continually even while I write. Still, once basically finished, I begin the editing process with a vengeance. For most of my writing, I probably go through something like 8-10 edits. Sometimes more!

Editing is key.

That’s when I start fine-tuning the language, often coming up with new creative ways of expressing what I want to say.

Again, I do all my editing in hard copy, printed page and pen in hand. The corrections are then added to the Word document version.

I NEVER write directly to my dashboard. There’s just something about holding the paper in hand and moving around while I read it out loud, listening to the way it sounds, listening to the meter and rhythm as well as other stylistic and content considerations.

Sometimes what “sounds” good when reading silently doesn’t sound so great read aloud. But I’ve found that if it sounds good out loud, it almost always flows when reading it silently.

Besides, our brains pick up a lot less than our ears do. Our brains fill in gaps, already knowing what we meant to say. Our ears, on the other hand, are much less forgiving and will more likely catch the oddly-worded phrase or the inconsistent thought.

Adding Analogy and Metaphor

Sometimes the symbolism I use comes to me at the beginning as I first conceptualize the idea. Other times, it comes while editing and I change significant chunks of the article, usually adding lots more text to it.

Either way, I ask myself if I can word something better, if there is a better way to tell the story or convey the information, or teach the principle. I explore what in life is similar to this thing I’m writing about. I also ask questions like, “What does this topic do? How does it act? Does it eat away at our will or potential or self-acceptance? If so, what other things eat away? Acid? Corrosion? Cancer?

Then I use what feels right and think through what else about the analogy might fit? How is cancer treated? How does cancer spread? What else may be associated with it that might have parallels to the topic I’m writing about?

And all the while, I’m editing and reediting and editing some more. Having said that, however, I never edit my personality out. It is very much a part of everything I write.

Final Steps

The next step is to copy and paste the finished article to my blog. I always save it as a draft first to preview what the final product will look like. I’ve caught many mistakes and fixed other problems before publishing this way.

Then I begin searching for a photo to help visually complete the picture I painted with words.

It’s then that the article is finally posted for your reading (and self-improvement) pleasure.

Relevant Background

There is some background information about me that I think does pertain to my writing style.

I grew up in my teen-aged years wanting to be a rich and famous rock guitarist and song writer (alas, no vocal abilities). As such, I wrote songs, poems set to music, really. I dabbled in poetry as such as well.

I learned during those years to think creatively, to think in metaphor and analogy, to create poetic ways of expressing my ideas – or at least more poetic had I not tried my hand at such things.

Madness to My Method

There is, however, a major downfall to my way of writing. Because each post is worked and reworked and reworked again many times over, they tend to get longer and longer with each edit as I discover yet another thing left unsaid (this post itself has been subject of that swelling tendency).

I know this is a no-no in the blogging world, and I probably pay a price for it, but I just find it difficult to edit my writing down.

My product often feels like a baby I’ve given birth to (I know – gender incompatibility issues notwithstanding!) and find it very difficult to cut into it too deeply to remove parts that readers would likely appreciate me removing.

And that, my friends, is my writing process in a nutshell. I hope it serves to either inform or entertain.

Galen, I hope I’ve done your request justice. If you would like clarification on anything, please ask away in the comments! 🙂

How Do You Come Up With Ideas for your Posts?

Do you follow any particular process in your writing?
Let me know your tricks of the trade to pumping out solid content! I would love to learn at the feet of those I admire! And that truly is all of you.

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Sounds like you need to pick up a notebook and keep it on your nightstand! Seriously! At first, you might be too tired to bother, but if you keep trying, you can develop the habit of immediately jotting down the idea before falling back asleep, even if it’s only a word or two to prompt you the next day.

Good point about flow, though. I may pay a price there too! But usually, I’m able to pick the flow up where I left off … I think! 🙂

All I can say is, no wonder I was moved to ask you about your writing process. The effort you put into your writing produces exquisite gems of wisdom, carefully cut and polished like diamonds.

Thank you for sharing the behind-the-scenes story of your posts. I love the image of you, walking around speaking your thoughts out loud. I also got some great tips, like using the index cards as bookmarks to keep track of passages you want to come back to.

In addition to all the notebooks I have in strategic places to record ideas (laughed at the image of standing in front of the fridge!), I use sticky notes, stuck on the wall or on my desk by the computer.

I can see that it took you some time to craft this post with the same attention and care as you do all your posts. I am grateful and honored that you took my request to heart, because the mechanics and insights you shared here will benefit all of us. Thank you so very much.

Thank you so much for starting this particular ball rolling. I enjoyed stepping out of myself and watching the process I go through. Lots of what I do was done without much thinking about it. It was “just the way I do things.” So thank you for that.

But I have to say, that while I am more passionate about the ideas the words I use convey than the process I use for conveying them, still, I enjoy that process. I love writing. I love crafting the sentences, deciding how to phrase things, then coming up with an even better way.

I like the sticky not idea, but the number of possible ideas I come up with would end up with stickies on top of stickies in no time. Besides, my desk is already cluttered!

Yeah, the sticky notes accumulate quickly, but they don’t stay on my wall very long. I use them just for a quick recording of those ideas that are here one moment and gone the next. The ideas then get filed away in a more organized (I use the term loosely) way, and the sticky notes get recycled.Galen Pearl recently posted … The 11th Step

What I like about eventually getting each of the best ideas put on their own Word Document with a preliminary title is that I can add to each of them as inspired to do so as I focus more exclusively on a different idea or two. That way, by the time I get to it, the article may be half written already, or at least much more developed than had I not had them there in front of me begging to be tampered with.

It’s fun to hear how others approach their writing, whether for insight into doing things better or simply for insight into the writer. I like seeing bloggers in my minds eye sitting at desks or walking around or whatever I discover them doing as they create the wonderful articles they populate their sites with.

I can picture you at your desk, sticky notes everywhere, typing away, laying insight on top of insight as you create the art that is you blog!

I used to run a blog for the sole purpose of writing blogging tips, and after I sold it — never thought I would have the urge to write about it ever again. Now that I’ve been out of the niche, I have to admit – I have this crazy urge to write something again. So I have a feeling I’ll be putting a post just like this out soon. Here we go again.

But anyways, awesome insight into how you write. I always love reading these, and try to get ideas to improve my own writing process.

But I have to admit, I’m not really one to plan too far ahead into things. Sometimes an idea will strike from nowhere, and I’ll have to stop whatever I’m doing to write down few notes on it for later. Then when the times comes, just write. I’ve just never been big into outlining and all that stuff, and feel like it just slows me down.

And I have the same problem as you: wanting to say everything in one post. Sometimes my articles will end up over 1,000 words, and that’s just a bit of an overkill nowadays. So, I’ll usually split the article into a 2 part mini-series. Always worked awesome on the blog and left readers in suspense. 😀Alex Mangini recently posted … 7 Questions With Jonathan Mead

Most of my outlining occurs when I’m writing a post like “5 Causes of …” or the “10 Ways to overcome …” and the like. Then I start by deciding on the ways or causes then fill in the blanks, so to speak. There are other types of posts I approach more like you do and just write. Still, if I don’t finish the article in one sitting (very rarely do I), the next time I pick it up, I read through it to get my bearings, and find myself inevitably and uncontrollably popping into the role of editor! I think it must be a genetic predisposition to edit! 🙂

Most of my posts are pretty close to 1,500. This one is over 1,700 words! That’s a good idea to split them into smaller posts in a series. I’ll see if I can work mine out that way. One of my recent posts went on and on for over 2,000 words so I broke it in half and sent one to another site that was published as a guest post.

Thanks for the great idea for cutting the scope and size of my product down a bit.

Thanks again for stopping by, Alex. And good luck jumping back into the blogging community! Sometimes when you have an itch, you just gotta scratch it! 🙂

I really enjoyed reading the method to your writing. Like you, I jot down ideas and love to write my posts by hand first. I have the complete opposite problem with editing. I don’t do it enough because I really dislike it even though it is an important step. My favorite way to write is as soon as the idea comes to me write about it. It is very hard to accomplish in real life, but whenever I can pull it off it makes me happy. Have a great week!Wendy Irene recently posted … Boost Creativity by Connecting to Source Energy

I don’t know why, but I really enjoy the editing process. I like watching a paragraph take shape and form, watching it slowly evolve into something a little better and more than it was before. Okay, well, I guess I do know why! 🙂 But while I can become impatient and just want the thing done, I do tend to wait and massage out the best I know how to write. Still learning though!

Have an awesome week, Wendy! And thanks for sharing your thoughts about what we love to do!

I found lots of tips to a post that I almost didn’t even read! You have a much more developed process than I do. I like the idea of reading them aloud to hear what it sounds like. And yes, the editing is where I craft or polish the post.

I also keep a running idea list, one in word & one in my dashboard. The dashboard is where I keep the ones that I’m letting percolate to see which one grabs me. And sometimes a totally new idea comes and that’s what I write about like I did today. Occasionally I make physical notes, but I’m trying to move away from paper. Sometimes I let an idea go too to see if it will come back. And if not, there seem to be plenty of ideas for now, but that may change after writing for a long time.

Truth is, I came close to not even writing it, as I explained in the post. As for having a more polished system, its the perfectionist in me, I think. I’ve been good at keeping that part of me from stopping me from doing things “because I’m not yet perfect,” but it does rear it’s head from time to time. And truthfully, I often don’t mind it. I think that part of me drives me to do my best.

Besides, I deeply enjoy the art and craft of composing a phrase and creating a sentence or paragraph that has that exact quality I want from it. I suppose I wasn’t even fully aware of the art of writing as much as I am now having taken Galen’s challenge to write about it. I’ve always enjoyed writing, but I think I’ve fallen in love with it even more since becoming a little more self-aware of the process I use.

I like your method, but I don’t seem to be able to move away from paper. I do most of my writing on the keyboard, but the ideas come to me while driving or reading or listening to a program or at night long after the computer has gone to bed! So I’m usually away from my keyboard when an idea slaps me upside the head. But I do prefer typing it out to writing it.

Well, Brad, keep up the writing! Appreciate the visit and the comment!

yup – i’ve found pen and paper very useful to get the creativity flowing and it just feels different than typing, esp as I get inspired for descriptions and phrases for my booknoch recently posted … “do you need a retirement coach?”

Do you have a time frame your aiming at for your book to be completed? Any hints as to content? While I haven’t yet written a book, I have toyed with the idea and have read of others’ writing adventures. It can be daunting. Hope you’re having fun with it along the way to completion!

Hi Ken – Not really… hoping to finish the proposal by end of the year and then look for agents and publishers. I find writersmarket.com very helpful. You might want to have a browse 🙂
cheers
nochnoch recently posted … “do you need a retirement coach?”

I also keep a notebook handy at all times to jot down ideas. This was especially critical during my first year of blogging. I filled a couple of notebooks with ideas, and I still refer back to them from time to time if I need a topic to write about. I get inspiration for all over the place, radio, Internet, articles, other blogs, and it helps to have a place to write down those ideas before they escape. Better yet, if I have the time, I prefer to go ahead and start writing about the thought as soon as I have it.

Yeah, I have a couple notebooks now and go back from time to time. My best ideas, though, go straight to a Word document so I can add a few thoughts here and there whenever something comes to me, but before I decide to really get working on that particular post.

My problem is that I very rarely have time to start writing a post when the idea comes. So writing the idea down is an absolute must right now.

Glad you came by, Eric. I’ll have a new banner/header in a few days. Come back and let me know what you think of the change.

Thank you Ken for sharing this with us. I know what you mean when you say ideas pop in and out. It is a must to write them down or they do just blow away in the wind.

i do carry a note pad in my purse at all times. My post are ideas that either pop into my mind, sometimes they come from conversations with others and sometimes from reading other post.
Thanks for sharing and blessing to you. You are doing a great job!
DebbieDebbie recently posted … How to Take Charge of Your Confidence!

I am happy to hear that you opted-out of the carrying a purse. Getting beat up isn’t fun. Thank you for the humor. I really did LOL!!
Blessing always,
DebbieDebbie recently posted … How to Take Charge of Your Confidence!

Hi Ken,
I know, you can’t help but to sneak in a post about blogging every once in a while. 🙂

Ideas come and go so quickly. I can come up with a wonderful idea, blink once or twice and then struggle for the next hour trying to remember what the darn idea was! This happens to me all of the time, especially when I am driving and am no where near a computer.

By the time I get home I completely forget what “great” writing ideas that I had. I get ideas that pop into my head that hit me like a bell. I just know that I got to write about.Justin | Personal Growth recently posted … Use Online Income to Meet your Financial Goals

Haha! Oh the trials of the blogging life for us forgetful mortal types! 🙂

I feel your pain, Justine. And as you get older, I have news for you: the mind doesn’t become a better trap for unsuspecting ideas that wander too close. Rather, it gets increasingly sieve-like! 🙂

So what do you do to capture as many ideas as you can before they fly away? Do you keep sticky-notes or a notebook on hand, or just hope your memory doesn’t fail you THIS time? Always looking for good ideas to simplify and improve what I do here.

Hey Ken,
I write everything down. I keep a pad and paper on my desk and in my truck. If not I type it into my iphone. I will most definitely forget if I don’t write it down. 🙂Justin | Personal Growth recently posted … Mazzastick.com’s Guide 4 New Bloggers eBook

Many of us have a hard time coming up with ideas to write, I agree writing things down as soon as we get an idea or topic is crucial. For me personally, I think of a topic, then I outline it in my head, then start writing. 😉 Thanks for sharing KenDia recently posted … How to improve your focus and concentration

That’s interesting, Dia. I guess the gears up in your clock work a lot better than mine! 🙂 I’m not sure I could outline a post in my head. Of course, my posts tend to be quite long, but still, I need everything down on paper where I can see it and touch it.

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About Me

My name is Ken Wert, the founder of M2bH. My purpose here is to teach you how to live a richer life of greater purpose and meaning, of mind-blowing possibility and deeper, more soul-satisfying happiness than you ever dreamt was possible. Join us on this happy adventure as you learn how to unlock your hidden potential to enjoy the rewards of a life well lived. Read more ...